Help! £40 to feed family for the month

p00

5dogs wrote: »

I am bumping this thread as I'm still reading through it, and when I can't find it I panic :eek: :rotfl:

Once youve posted on a thread you can always find it via your own posts instead of searching .

xxp00

smiler34

Great thread, found some brilliant ideas and havn't read it all. Good luck hun

wigglebeena

Farmfoods are doing 1kg of frozen sardine fillets for £3.50, that's a lot of protein for that amount of money. I like fresh/frozen sardines on crostini with hot salsa. (Maybe a little melted grated cheese too).

lynneee

I know its a little late, but well done for doing a month on £20! Everyone on this thread has been so helpful and supportive. I have found so many good ideas that will help me save. Thanks also to all the people who have posted links to other useful threads - I just need to find time to read them all now!!

paigexstewart

Just to say I finally managed to finish reading and loved every second of it x

415SanFran

I have just read all of this post from start to finish took me all day!!!!
I CANNOT BELIEVE how prices have jumped since this first started !!!! That really was a shock to see, some things more than double, in really such a short space of time. I kept hearing how this had happened in the last year or so but reading this is a real eye opener. WOW.
Must try the lentil burgers they sound lovely

miggy

415SanFran wrote: »

I have just read all of this post from start to finish took me all day!!!!

2.38am, SanFran?!
That's the sign of a really good thread!

got-it-spend-it

Just to say that Sainsburys do a 1% milk for £1 for 2 litres (compared to £1.50 ish for semi-skimmed). We can't tell the difference between this and semi-skimmed, and it saves us about £1.50 a week, which is £6-7 a month off our grocery bill.

I know this isn't as cheap as watering milk down, but also know that some people don't fancy doing this.

daska

EstherH wrote: »

Is that all that you put in? Carrots, onions and lentils? Do you use stock cubes or real chicken stock? Do you blend it all after it's cooked?

Sorry, yes, if I have some in the cupboard I add a bit of stock powder - I 'splash out' on Marigold bouillon cos I reckon, £/lb it's the best you can get (as we're mainly veggie I don't have a ready supply of hm chicken stock) - but sometimes just some celery essence (celery is great for rounding out flavour, it has that extra taste, umami?). Also, depending what's in the fridge/cupboard/windowsill maybe some lemon rind or orange juice, herbs or ginger, depends on the day...!And yes, I bamix the bejeezus out of it - I have problems with my hands so I leave the veg in large chunks rather than chopping it finely.

I don't tend to be heavy handed with salt, pepper or chilli as we have a toddler who has eaten with us since he started weaning (we went down the baby led weaning path rather than purees) so we season at the table, then everyone can have it to their own taste.

Another simple, filling soup is to sweat one head celery (this does have to be finely sliced to stop it being stringy) with one large onion, deglaze with a splash of white wine (or wine vinegar?) and then add liquid and a chopped celeriac, cook until softened and blend! You can get away without stock for this one, but, as above we season to taste!

Have any yoghourt you know you're not going to use up? Chop and fry a leek, mix a bit of stock powder into the yoghourt, and add it all to hot pasta - yum! The sweetness of the leek balances the yoghourt really well. Some toasted pine nuts or sesame seeds are good with this as well but obviously they bump up the cost.

daska

celery essence - this is a great flavour enhancer - steep 1oz celery seeds in a quarter of a pint of cheap brandy for a couple of weeks, strain and bottle, a few drops rounds out flavour reall well.